How many times do we take credit for inventing an art or a method of manufacturing? Take crocheting for instance. Crochet - kroh - SHAY - needlework consisting of interlocking looped stitches with a single thread. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives it a Scandinavian origin. My 1948 Britannica Encyclopedia doesn't include the word. However "net" is defined in several pages because the looping of a single strand of thread, rope, or wire is prominent in modern industry. My 1967 World Book states: According to Norse mythology, Loki, god of evil, invented the fishing net, a tale no doubt told by a fish.

It certainly makes sense that the word for the art originated in a country dependent on fish, although the word, crochet, linguistically looks more like French than Norwegian.

Every once in a while I pick up string and a special hook that makes crocheting easier than experienced by very early hominoids. I find it relaxing and rewarding to create a useful article. But as to the origin of the idea, going back through time is where it's at, probably hundreds of thousands of years.

I have trouble putting myself in an earth setting as a primitive individual. First I would have had to feed myself. I hungered for more than leaves and fruit so I went to the water. After catching a fish with my bare hands, or stabbing it with a stick, or killing the heron that held a fish in its beak, I could belch with satisfaction and sit back and doodle. If I picked up a vine I could come up with a noose and eventually a net with which to catch many fish.

Going back in time takes a lot of fanticising. What is so difficult is remembering that primitive peoples had an entire 24 hours to feed themselves each day. Contrary to how civilized folks view the dark, I believe primitive people walked about at night where they knew they were safe. Sleeping 10 hours a day doesn't seem likely considering the call of an empty stomach, or a full bladder, or escaping little critters in a lumpy bed.

Scientists have some proof that brains of Homo sapiens remain the same size as in the beginning of the species. Experience and communication have made us appear more intelligent. Well, we arrogantly believe so. I think early peoples far removed from each other discovered similar things, like crocheting fish nets or antimacassars. Or like some old Norse woman who gave up her kitchen to her daughter-in-law and sat by the fire rocking a cradle and idly toyed with a string to make a pretty cap for her grandchild.

Don't think for a minute human creativity is stagnant, especially when we are well fed and have many idle hours. Just browse in the library for crafts and see what can be done with a single strand. Spend some time in a craft store. I found a pattern for knitting a tree house. That artist/author was not only well fed, well housed but well treed. How lucky can one get?

Naomi Sherer